How Operation Christmas Child Brings Joy To Children In Texas

When I first heard about Operation Christmas Child, I thought it was just another Christmas event. Then I spoke with Chelan Brooks at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, and she shared stories of children around the world opening a shoebox, often the first gift they’ve ever received in their entire lives. That’s when I realized this isn’t about boxes. It’s about hope.

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Operation Christmas Child is a global outreach project of Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian humanitarian organization. Volunteers pack shoeboxes with school supplies, toys, and personal items. Each shoebox is prayed over and shipped to children in need in more than 100 countries.

Where to Drop Off Your Shoebox in 2025

There are several updated churches serving as official drop-off locations this year, with Pioneer Drive Baptist Church as the primary collection site. Additional drop-off churches include:

• Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, Abilene (Lead Collection Center)
• Wylie Methodist Church, Antilley Road, Abilene
• Trinity Baptist Church, Abilene
• First Baptist Church, Sweetwater
• Hamlin Church of the Nazarene

National Collection Week is November 17-24, 2025. Volunteers will be on-site to receive shoeboxes and answer questions.

What Goes Inside the Shoebox?

Each shoebox should include a few practical items plus one “wow” gift, such as a soccer ball with a pump, a doll, or a stuffed animal. School supplies are especially valuable because, in many countries, children cannot attend school unless they provide their own materials.

Suggested Items:

• School supplies (pencils, crayons, markers, notebooks)
• Toys (jump rope, slinky, cards, puzzles)
• One “wow” gift, a doll, a soccer ball with a pump, or a toy truck
• Hair accessories, small clothing items, socks

Do Not Pack (Updated for 2025):

• Bars of soap (now banned)
• Toothpaste
• Candy
• Food
• Liquids
• Lotions or gels
• Seeds
• Vitamins, medication
• Aerosol cans
• Toy weapons of any kind

The Greatest Gift

Every child receiving a shoebox is also given The Greatest Journey, a child-friendly book that shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their own language. It’s not just a box of gifts, it’s a message of love, faith, and hope.

Big-hearted Texans show up every year. Let’s do it again.

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